I was really hoping this Hall of Fame game would break a trend of typically very boring HOF games that feature mostly to-be-cut players and no real ‘name’ players or rookies to get excited about -- but this year’s HOF game really did not deliver us from such a fate.
There were a good number of rookies to scout who actually played in this game, which was good (for me)...but then they really didn’t touch the ball much/enough to get a great feel...but I will still give my feedback on what I did see/my first reactions of watching them work at the pro level.
This game began with a linebacker, Grant Stuard (4 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack), back to return kicks...and while returning his first ever kick, he fumbled it away to LAC -- and that set the tone for the Lions, who played a terrible game, right away. The Lions lost 2 fumbles, had a muffed punt turnover, threw 3 picks (and one of them a pick-six). This game was a disaster for Detroit...a disaster that doesn’t really matter because most all the starters were in street clothes on the sidelines.
The Chargers weren’t great either, but the Lions kept handing them the ball in the red zone off turnovers...and LAC cashed in enough to take the game with ease.
Both teams played this like a true HOF preseason game...LAC ran a bunch of starters on the O-Line and in some other spots early on, but mostly ran backups and backups to backups, while the Lions didn’t really have starters playing at all -- they treated it like the low level scrimmage it has become, and thus we got a very sloppy, dull game.
On to the player scouting...
Player Notes...
-- We’re gonna talk about the QBs first, because I was highly interested in watching this affair to see if the Trey Lance (13-20 for 120 yards, 2 TDs/0 INT, 3-8-0) rumors were true of a ‘turnaround’/an ‘upswing’ in his career working with Jim Harbaugh. I also liked Kyle Allen’s 2024 preseason and wanted to see if he was gonna carry it over to 2025.
The big picture scouting of all the QBs in this game is -- they all disappointed.
Any football analyst who watched this game and then wrote articles or tweets or whatever about how Trey Lance really is ‘turned around’ -- they obviously know nothing about Lance’s history/tape or about evaluating/scouting QBs in general.
This was a game that Lance HAD to show how much better he was than the competition...a crucial game for him -- this preseason is everything as he is fighting for his career...and he’s got an opportunity to shine and get/earn a $10-20M contract next year as a high level backup or challenging to start QB next season...IF he shines in the preseason, and especially shines in a game like this...and he did nothing of the sort.
It was the same Trey Lance that I have seen for four years now -- no juice/spark, still weak in the pocket...and you still have to roll him to his right to get any comfortableness out of him to throw the ball...and he can be a dominant runner when he wants, so I thought he’d run like crazy to show off -- but he didn’t show that here. Trey Lance still plays tentative and overmanaged/seems like he is thinking too much.
We are FOUR YEARS into this, and I don’t see much progression from Lance from his rookie season. I think he was more free and unbridled in his rookie season. Now, he looks like he’s been beaten down by the knowledge that he just ‘isn’t that good at this’. He still looks/works a bit skittish and micromanaged. I see no raw talent or ‘it’ at all...four years, three different organizations, and we’re really not progressing...we’re regressing or we’ve hit the ceiling of how high this could go...and it’s not enough.
Until further notice, my current and final scouting of Trey Lance: https://youtube.com/shorts/18G1EnK37_Y?si=PTWCTzMoVoygksli
I’m done.
If he’s forced into action as a backup on a Justin Herbert injury...Lance has some temp FF-hope any game because of his running but thinking there’s gonna be a turnaround to some Dynasty/long-term hope...it just doesn’t exist.
Kyle Allen (9-14 for 91 yards, 0 TD/2 INTs) is a better ‘traditional’ pocket backup QB than Lance, but he didn’t shine here either. He had a couple nice throws but got burned on a pick-six and threw an end zone pick that was an on the money bomb-ish throw, but the safety read it and came over and picked it off.
Kyle Allen is ‘mid’ NFL backup talent.
I have similar negative feelings on Hendon Hooker (3-6 for 18 yards, 0 TD/1 INT) as I feel with Trey Lance... You’ve (Hendon) had plenty of time in the league already, and you still haven’t gotten any better. It’s ‘over’. Let’s all move on.
I’ve always thought Hooker wasn’t as good as the mainstream was trying to push, and have been ready to see any reason for hope...but he’s been worse than I thought in his multiple preseasons in the pros. No great progression. No real improvement. No upside. He was a little better last year than his first year, but no progression seen into this year-three. The fact that Allen, not Hooker, started this game tells you all you need to know about what the Lions think of Hooker right now.
LAC UDFA rookie QB D.J. Uiagalelei (2-3 for 25 yards) came into the game late and did nothing of note. It was his debut, so he can have a ‘pass’...but scouting him prior to the draft, we’re likely never to mention his name again after this preseason.
-- OK, the QBs flopped...but how did the bigger name rookies do? Let’s go through the Chargers’ main four rooks, on offense, in this game...
Omarion Hampton (2-9-0) did start and saw a couple touches on the first series and then was gone after that. He didn’t look all that great, as a runner...he looked great physically, he has one of the best physiques in the NFL at RB -- but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a great NFL RB because of his physique.
But it is too soon to judge Hampton off two touches, but his attempt to take an off-tackle run, in the red zone, on a 3rd & short, and him deciding not to just drive into tacklers and get the needed yards but instead trying to kick it outside, where he didn’t blow any defender away with speed/agility to the outside...and then got wiped out on a tackle by a CB/Rock Ya-Sin (2 tackles)...it left me wondering how a body like Hampton could get dominated by Ya-Sin.
It’s too soon, too little info to judge...and RBs debuting in the preseason can be tentative, understandably, on their first touches (like Trey Benson looking awful last preseason debut, but eventually it clicked in a bit). I give Omarion a ‘pass’ here, but I was definitely not ‘wowed’ watching him in this brief debut.
-- Nothing really amazing from the rookie receivers of the Chargers -- but you can’t blame them that they were forced to play with Trey Lance at QB.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith (2-43-1/2) had a touchdown catch and he looked the best of their rookie group in their HOF debuts. I say that from the perspective of looking the best in running routes and just playing with a level of confidence.
Tre Harris (0-0-0/1) looked very basic, running straight ahead routes and not separating or getting a chance to show off any of his skills, the ones he showed in college. He looked like a very generic wide receiver in this game. But he wasn’t in long and didn’t really get any opportunities to shine, his one target was 5-yards over his head...so, we’re not doing any major downgrades off of this one little event.
TE Oronde Gadsden (1-7-0/1) didn’t get much to work with to show what he could do either, but the one thing I noted that’s a very positive scouting item is – he looks like he’s added 5-10 pounds of muscle; he’s starting to look like a real NFL tight end body and not a smaller framed wide receiver guy trying to masquerade as a tight end.
-- To me, the best-looking rookie receiver…or rookie anything on the offensive side of the ball for either team was the Lions’ Isaac TeSlaa (2-46-0/3).
TeSlaa just looks and moves more like a star WR than the other guys in this game. Just using this one event to judge by, which is totally unfair to do, I would rate/desire TeSlaa over Harris or KLS, among the FF-rookie WRs. Again, just judging solely from these brief appearances for all of them.
Tesla has the build, the speed with excellent Tesla-like (the car) acceleration (as we discussed on the HOF livestream)…the speed is real off the snap for him to get open, but then his hands are really smooth on top of everything else.
Give it up to Lions GM Brad Holmes for executing on this pick earlier than anyone thought it should be. Many of us, in the scouting and analysis community, were like ‘this TeSlaa has something’ after watching him at the Senior Bowl but none of us would have said -- ‘Oh, he’s for sure a top 100 prospect’.
It looks like he might be just that.
All the Lions beat writers have been more for 7th-Round rookie WR Dominic Lovett (5-31-0/9) than TeSlaa (not that they disliked TeSlaa, but they like Lovett more) in OTAs and camp -- but to my eyes they are not even close in talent and upside. TeSlaa is the WAY better prospect. Lovett is a forgettable, decent hands, #5-6/fringe roster WR.
-- Chargers defensive player notes...
Maybe the best player of the game, the game MVP...it may have been UDFA rookie (Oregon) CB Nikko Reed (3 tackles, 2 PDs). He had the pick-six on Kyle Allen. It was a good play by Reed...and he was good in coverage his entire time in the game.
Reed has been noted for having a good camp, but you see that written about a million players/rookies this time of year...but Reed delivered in this game and is showing as a now 2nd-team CB for LAC...a LAC secondary that is a possible weak spot, so Reed has a chance to make some impact right away for the Chargers, as a UDFA.
I didn’t have Reed on my radar before, but now I do. More info on him to come.
I watched several snaps of 3rd-round DT Jamaree Caldwell (3 tackles). He was quite active and was a handful for the Lions (backups) O-Line to try and block much of the game. A nice showing/debut for Caldwell.
Side note...I wondered if Jim Harbaugh was gonna push his ex-Michigan ‘crush’, LB Junior Colston (4 tackles) into the starting lineup this season, but his appearance here in this game is a minor ‘slap in the face’ and diminishes that notion for sure.
-- Lions defensive player notes...
CB Rock Ya-Sin (2 tackles) has bounced around the league for the past 5 years...Detroit being his 5th different team in the past 5 years. He had that nice tackle on Omarion Hampton early in the game, but he also had another nice tackle in the game...and seems to be reborn/inspired a bit now working in Detroit.
7th-Round rookie SAF Daniel Jackson (6 tackles) was moving really well in this game...he’s just better in movement in reality/in-game than whatever his Combine or Pro Day says. But he wasn’t tackling that great...from what I saw.
Jackson was a ‘good tackler but a bit slow’ profile pre-NFL Draft, but here was moving quickly but not tackling well. Maybe it was the debut nerves, or I didn’t interpret it well -- but I was impressed with how he was moving though...that was a concern before, but I don’t think it is in NFL reality.
